#staabstrong: Ayala students rally for coach

Chino >> More than a hundred supporters of an Ayala High coach descended on the Chino Valley Unified board meeting Thursday night, protesting a lack of administration support for her in the face of alleged bullying from one parent.

Staab, who brought home 11 league titles and took either the boys’ or girls’ teams to the state championships eight times, said school administrators did not help her or the coaching staff in the face of bullying, harassment and stalking by the parent.

More than 100 Staab supporters, many of them teens wearing Ayala High letterman’s jackets or red t-shirts with the slogan “#staabstrong,” filled the board’s meeting room, the antechamber outside, the courtyard outside and spilled out into the hallway beyond. In all, 28 of the 29 people who signed up to speak at the meeting Thursday evening spoke in support of Staab and many condemned what they saw as the lack of action by the administration.

“It’s appalling to me, the lack of support she’s been given,” Renee Harrison, a kindergarten teacher at Hidden Trails Elementary in Chino, told the board. “I expect my principal to back me up.”

Staab was a walk-on coach -- that is, not a full-time employee of the school district -- and thus not a member of any of the district’s three unions.

Harrison suggested things might have been different, had Staab been backed with the collective political might of one of the unions.

“Let’s have some integrity and say that this is wrong,” Harrison said.

Parent John Scheer agreed.

“What I’m most disappointed in is the administration, and that goes all the way up to (the board) and to (Superintendent Wayne) Joseph,” he said.

One parent reported that another parent who had apparently driven Staab off sent team members and parents a long rambling email attacking the coach on Thursday, prior to the school board meeting.

“I can only imagine the countless other lives she could have touched,” junior Kylie Egan told the board, bemoaning Staab’s departure.

The district has a policy that appears applicable to Staab’s case, but its enforcement relies on a judgment call by principals:

“Principals may exclude parents or other members of the community from the school when, in their judgment, the person’s continual presence may pose a threat to pupils or staff due to inappropriate conduct or a previous incident on campus involving pupils or staff,” Board Policy 1250 reads in part.

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“This is as close as we come to regulating parent conduct,” CVUSD spokeswoman Julie Gobin said Friday. “Certainly if a situation escalates where staff feel threatened, I would recommend at that point that they do put in a call to the local law enforcement agency.”

The district’s high schools have School Resource Officer police officers based at each campus, as well as security guards both at campuses and roaming from site to site, Gobin said.

Board members reported speaking with Staab since receiving her resignation letter a week ago.

“Perhaps it’s time for us to think about guidelines for coaches and teachers for how to deal with demanding parents,” board member Sylvia Orosco said.

Board member Charles Dickie praised Staab’s influence on her runners:

“Coach Staab has been a great coach and outstanding person and role model,” he said. “Obviously, something needs to be done.”

Board member Irene Hernandez-Blair concurred.

“The safety of students and staff is of utmost importance,” she said. “It will be addressed.”